Cancer is currently treated with radiation but proton beam would be much safer than standard radiation therapy. Basically it is positively charged particle with high energy which destroys only cancer cells. Generally in standard radiation therapy X-rays (Photons) are used, which deliver radiation not only to the targeted tumour cells, but even the surrounding and healthy cells are also destroyed, whereas the proton beam can be adjusted in such a way that they could precisely destroy only the cancerous cells. This therapy would be a boon for patients having different types of cancers like, spine, brain, liver, lung, breast, neck, prostate, pancreas etc.
Thus amongst many advantages of nuclear energy, this could be certainly a game changer for Indian medical industry for the treatment of critical diseases including cancer.
Mumbai is going to offer one of the best cancer treatment in the form of “Proton Beam Therapy Machine”, which provides sub-millimeter precision in destroying cancer cells. This highly sophisticated machine will be installed at Tata Memorial Centre (TMC), under Department of Atomic Energy, located at Kharghar, by September next year. Presently only 1 such hi-tech cancer treatment machine is available in India and that too on a very cost effective, compare to the other countries worldwide. However once set up at TMC, it would be complementary for economically week or those who would be unable to foot the bill.
Monday, July 6, 2020
